I've come to the conclusion that there just AREN'T any good First Dance songs, if you don't like schmaltzy crap.

Like most couples, Honeybear and I have "our song". Hey There Delilah, by the Plain White T's. Great song. Not really something you can waltz to, though. :-)

So we've been looking for a song to use. Yesterday, theknot.com sent me their list of the top 50 first dance songs.

We looked at the lyrics, we listened to the songs... and there's just nothing we like. Some -- like "One Moment In Time" (Whitney Houston) -- were nice songs, but just didn't say "newly married couple". Some -- like "From This Moment" (Shania Twain & Brian White) -- had wonderful lyrics but we couldn't stand the singers' voices.

So far, the songs we've come closest to agreeing upon (in that neither of us found anything objectionable about them, but we weren't really wowed by them) are "I'll Cover You" from RENT and "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail.

On the theory that LJ knows everything... do any of you have suggestions? I know some of you are really into music.

From spaceoperadiva:

Your result for The Despot / Small Woodland Creature Test...

Charlemagne the Woodchuck

31% Brutality, 44% Wackiness, 52% Playfulness, 43% Strength, 77% Kindness, 36% Agility and 64% Intelligence!

Take The Despot / Small Woodland Creature Test at HelloQuizzy

This was a pleasant surprise. Honeybear and I went to see Up in Disney 3D (having been so impressed with Bolt in Disney 3D), even though the previews made it look like a kind of dumb movie. pbray said is didn't stink, though, so away we went.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but the preview totally misrepresented the film. I mean, yes, the scenes from the preview are in the film, but they completely miss the POINT of the film.

From the previews, I was expecting the film to be something of the sort "crotchety old man, fed up with people, ties balloons to his house and sails away, to have amazing and wonderful adventures". And technically, that was the objective plot line.

But the movie wasn't about the adventures at all! Instead, it was a wonderful, moving story of a man coming to grips with what he sees as a wasted life, wasted opportunities, and one final chance to make good on a promise before he dies. I started off crying (when they sum up his life in the first few minutes), I finished up crying, and I thoroughly enjoyed everything inbetween.

A word to the wise, though. You have to be quick to pick up the backstory, since it's a montage of short scenes, with nothing really explained. Honeybear missed two of the crucial character details, and so found the movie to be merely "pleasant" instead of wonderful.

My invitations have arrived. They are lovely. They are elegant. They are ... wrong.

Due to necessities of printing, they can only be embossed on one side. Since the invitation is a three-fold card, this means one side contains a short, sappy verse; a complete blank; bride-name & groom-name with the date. The other side contains a long, sappy verse; the full text invitation; a complete blank.

I asked for the side with the most text on it to be embossed. Instead, they embossed the side with the names and the one-line sappy verse. Argh!

Upon discussion with the help desk (the company has excellent live-help staff) they determined the error was theirs, because the people who do the setup are NOT the same people as read the order containing the special instructions, and apparently neglected to tell the setup people such instructions existed and needed to be read. Argh! They have a serious need for process improvement!

However, they are rushing a replacement order, correctly embossed, that should be here Friday.

Now, I just need to get Honeybear's list of people he wants invited. (His mom already gave me the family list. These are his personal friends.)

My parents have been seen off to the airport, and I can now breathe easily.

Last week, I spent the first part of the week frantically cleaning house. And instructing Honeybear on what I meant by "clean and tidy". I thought "everything that was here when we moved in, and nothing else" was straighforward enough. Apparently not. So, I ended up cleaning HALF of the counter, kitchen table, etc. And saying, "THAT is what I mean." Given a concrete example of the concept "clean and tidy", he was more than capable of executing it, and in fact embellishing upon it by adding such things as dusting of the banister and window sills.

We filled up my CRV with stuff to take to Good Will...boxes that had been in the garage always intended for this destination but never delivered, and duplicate electronics (no one needs 2 VCRs and 3 dvd players). And headed out, with an address, a map, and a GPS device. After about an hour of circling up and down the road in question, scouring both sides, and trolling up and down the side streets behind the road in question, we came to the conclusion that the address did not, in fact, exist, despite the assurances of Good Will that it did, and was the correct place to bring things in need of donation. To add insult to injustice, we saw multiple billboards telling us what a good thing we'd be doing by donating to Good Will. But no helpful information like a phone number or alternate address.

So, we went to Salvation Army, which had the virtue of being a location we'd driven past previously, and thus definitively something that existed. It was, however, closed.

This meant that Honeybear had to drive my CRV to the Salvation Army on Thursday, when they were open, leaving me to drive his Amanti to the airport to pick up my folks. Running slightly late (I wanted to arrive 20 minutes early, in case their plane arrived before it was due), I was delayed still further by a massive accident on I-270, which appeared to involve a garbage truck having tried to tear off the trunk of a sedan. There were police cars, ambulances and at least one stretcher. So of course, even though the road was completely clear, everyone drove by at a snail's pace, gawping.

I entered the airport at 1:15, not bad since their flight arrived at 1:10, and Denver's airport is one of those tramway systems, so there's a significant delay in getting from gate to baggage claim. The monitors said their bags were at carousel 7, so I checked carousel 7. They were not there, and no luggage had come out yet, so I figured they were still en route from the gate. I booked it over to the tramway exit, and waited for about 15 minutes, until I saw the Southwest flight crew departing, and figured they must have gone a different way. Sure enough, I trot back to carousel 7, and there they are, just getting their bags off the carousel. They'd been at carousel 8 the whole time, and only just realized they'd been given the wrong carousel number.

After checking them into their hotel, I brought them to see my house. They'd only seen pictures, before. They loved it. My dad especially loved that it's right next to a bird sanctuary, and there are TONS of birds. My mom loved how open, bright and airy it is.

We grilled out on the deck -- mojito grilled chicken, grilled potatoes, and steamed Swiss Chard (that was NOT made on the grill). They were thrilled to have fresh veggies straight from the garden.

On Friday, they spent the day at the Cherry Creek Mall, then we all met up for The Family Dinner -- and my parents were finally introduced to Honeybear's family. Both of us were nervous wrecks, of course, but in the end, everyone decided everyone else was wonderful, and they were delighted to be including them in the expanded family.

Saturday, we drove up to Estes Park, and the Rocky Mountain National Park. The park ranger suggested they buy a lifetime senior park pass, for $10, rather than a one-time $20 pass for the car, so my dad handed over his drivers license proving he's a senior... only for her to inform him that she was also from Troy. She'd grown up on the same street in Troy that he had, and her father had been in the boy scouts with him!

We took the most scenic route, the Trail Ridge Road. And learned that "scenic" means "sheer drop of 2000+ feet just past the edge of the asphalt". I drove all the way up to the snowpack, around 12,000 feet, and we got out to look around at one of the scenic overlooks. The air was so thin, we were all panting for breath, just walking. And my fingers were aching from clenching the steering wheel -- I'm not afraid of heights, but considering my dad's story the previous night of how Freddy Freihoffer met his untimely demise off the side of a mountain while racing up Pike's Peak, I really would have preferred guard rails. Or even just the illusion of guard rails.

(edited to add animal sightings) No bighorn sheep were seen. According to the rangers, no sheep had been seen for the last 5 days. Some elk and mule deer were seen at a distance -- enough distance that we weren't sure which were elk and which were mule deer. Upon returning to Estes Park, we were held up by an elk grazing at the side of the road, his hooves practically touching the white line, and later, by a family of 4 elk crossing the street. My dad snarked that we hadn't seen any wild animals in the park, and had to come down to the city to see them. Sadly, later in the drive, my car was charged by a gung-ho rabbit, which hit me even though I slammed on the brakes, killing him, and putting a damper on the day.

Sunday was a lovely luncheon sponsored by my mother-in-law-to-be, for me and my mom, while my dad and Honeybear hung out (reading on their respective couches). I gave them a tour of the gym, which totally impressed them. And today, they went home.

So, a good visit was had by all.

We've been getting into the gardening thing -- a deck garden of vegetables and flowers in container pots, since the HOA has rules about what can go in the ground. (Understandably... we live next to a nature preserve, and the watercourse leading to the lake cuts right behind our house, so they're worried about fertilizers and stuff that could damage the birds. It's not just the HOA being snots because they can.)

I'm trying an experiment with those upside-down-tomato-planters. I've got 5 of them going, with peppers and tomatoes, and assorted herbs growing in the tops, as well as two large pots of well-established heritage tomato plants (a yellow and a brandywine), and a large pot containing five tomato seedlings, of which I hope at least one will make it. (Being that they were a mix of heritage tomatoes, I have no idea what varieties survived.) There had been nine seedlings, but when I took the cover off of their greenhouse, four of them went roots-up. It took about two weeks for the others to get over the shock of going from a hot, humid environment to a dry, dry, DRY environment, and they all lost at least two leaves.

We've also got three grow-boxes (those big boxes that collect water at the bottom, and siphon it up to where the roots are, instead of having you water the top of the plant) that are filled with, respectively, asparagus (any suggestions, jpsorrow? you grow asparagus, right?) and beets; peas and swiss chard; and strawberries. And a very large pot that contains the replacement pomegranate tree for the one I left in Bingo with jpsorrow.

And, of course, there are window boxes and a large half-cask filled with flowers -- mostly trumpet lilies and glamini, but also some random things, like shamrocks and peacock orchids, that the seed company sent as bonuses for my order. As well as hydrangeas, which are being dutifully watered with aluminum sulfate mixed into the water to turn them blue. And random pansies that escaped their containers and are growing in clusters throughout the landscaping gravel.

The grow-boxes took a while for the plants to get settled, but now that they are, they're like doubling in size every few days. It's amazing. We have already harvested some of the swiss chard to serve with dinner, and it was DELICIOUS! (Honeybear thought the plant's energy was subdued the next day, in reaction to having some of its leaves sliced off...)

The tomato plants have already produced flowers, which were dutifully sprayed with blossom set, and the first teeny tiny tomato has been spotted. The pea plants have set two very pretty purple flowers, and the peppers are working on some knobby looking non-leaf things that will either be flowers or peppers; time will tell.

I've been a busy little beaver, but the wedding plans are coming together.

Honeybear and I were in Troy for a week meeting with everyone -- priest, florist, wedding planner -- as well as going over everything with my parents.

I now have an actual and honest to goodness guest list! (Pending changes, of course...)

Our first choice of wedding invitation (a really cool folder-format in metallic silver, with enclosed tiered cards for rsvp and info) was vetoed by my mom, who was horrified at the thought of anything that didn't look like every other invitation she'd ever received. Heaven forbid her daughter look "different"!

So, we came up with a second choice, in a more traditional pearl-on-white, that is still funky enough to make us happy.

More in the white-on-white theme, the flowers for the wedding that will be carried/worn are going to be white orchids. Of a particularly ruffly variety that no one in the capital district has ordered in the last 3 years, so the wholesaler has to research the price to get them. :-) (See this page for a sample bouquet using the standard rounded orchid and also for one using the ruffly japhet orchids.) We'll also put sprays of orchids (standard variety) on the piles of books that are used for the table centerpieces. Then the church flowers will be two large pieces to go behind the altar, in white and blue, with yellow accents.

We've booked a harpist/flute combo for the ceremony, a DJ for the reception, a photographer, and a salon to do hair/makeup.

We've even reviewed the official booklet of marriage service choices, and selected our readings and parts of the mass. (I'm totally confused as to whether or not it's called a mass -- it's not a "full" mass, by which they mean there will be no eucharist, but is there such a thing as a partial mass, or is it just called a service?)

I'm developing a theory about "bridezillas". Since every one of these meetings takes a minimum of two hours, and you discuss minutiae with great urgency, what had been "I want pretty flowers in white and blue" becomes "I must have japhet orchids and delphiniums" and any change to that is viewed as an invalidation on the two excrutiating hours you spent making the darn decision.

Hey, pbray:

Back in February, I attended Genghis Con, the gaming convention here in Denver. It's about time that I commented on the games we played, as well as games played since.

First, Honeybear insisted that I blog about last night's Power Grid game. It's only the second time we played, and we both hit the win condition at the same time, both having 21 cities, that we could power, and final determination of winner came down to cash on hand -- $103 versus $99. Pretty darn close for a game that was so long it spanned two nights! This is a very well-designed game, where a lot of thought was given to equalizing the players' positions.

Now, for the Genghis Con games.

The first game we played on Friday night was Spacefarers of Catan. Very complex, and not nearly as satisfying a game as Settlers. It did not go on our buy list.

On Saturday, we played two games at the Rio Grande open gaming sessions: Carcassonne New World and Galaxy Truckers. Jonathan won New World, and I won Galaxy Truckers, so we each picked up a $5 gift certificate.

New World was an interesting version of Carcassonne, having to do with Lewis and Clark's exploration from the east coast to the west, with points only counting for sites west of the surveyor, who moves steadily westward. One flaw of gameplay is that we had a very dense layout of tiles, with the result that our surveyor kept stepping "off the map". But that was a minor nit. Because of the surveyor element, this game favors fast, small builds, rather than the "super cities" common to other Carcassonne games. Enjoyable. On the list for potential purchase.

Galaxy Truckers was a fun game involving building space ships out of random spare parts, and trying to pick up goods and deliver them without your ship falling apart, your crew dying, or your engines blowing up. My ship actually fell apart in the last round, but I'd made enough profit prior to that, that I still came out the winner. Light-hearted, fun game with enough strategy and alternate win paths to be replayable. There was much laughter during this game. On the list for future purchase.

The rest of our time on Saturday was spent in the "Puffing Billy" room, devoted to train games. I picked up another $5 gift certificate for winning a game (TransAmerica) in there. We played UnionPacific, TransAmerica, Metro, and Iron Dragon.

UnionPacific was Alan R. Moon's first train game, and it shows signs of what would later develop into Ticket to Ride. But it's a little more complex, a little more uneven, a little less interactive. Worth playing once (actually twice, since the first time I'd played it was eons ago back in college -- Alan or Fish had a copy, I think) but no need to hunt up a copy for myself.

TransAmerica was a super-short train game, that was very simple, very fast, and would be a great introduction to train gaming for smaller kids. It lacked the depth of strategy that longer games have, though, so again, not a game I need for myself.

Metro was one I'd looked at buying previously, so was very eager to gameplay. It's basically a labyrinth game, where you play tiles to create winding paths between Paris metro stations. Your goal is to create the longest paths for yourself, and the shortest paths for your opponents, although there are some rules about what makes a valid path. It won a bunch of awards, but just didn't do it for me. I think because the tile-selection process is so random, you don't have any good way of making long-term strategy. Maybe if you knew all the tiles... So another one that was worth playing once, but not one I need to buy.

Finally, Iron Dragon. This is a LONG game, so we weren't able to finish it. It can go pretty quickly if the person knows what they're doing. Unfortunately, we were playing with someone who was a newbie, and had to ask questions about everything, and took a really long time to decide what she was doing, so we hit our time limit before the game ended. I really like Iron Dragon, and thanks to Kev and tryslora, we have a copy. Our great innovation is to put plastic wrap on top of the board, then use foil markers to draw our routes. MUCH faster than the scrubbing with the stiff crayons to try and draw lines. Plus, cleanup is a jiff!

Other games purchased with our discount coupons include the Switzerland expansion to Ticket to Ride and the aforementioned Power Grid, both of which I was familiar with, and which have become favorites for Honeybear.

And in a recent gaming Sunday, we were introduced to the game Goa. Very long (it took the entire session), very complex, not very interactive. Jonathan picked up another prize coupon for his play on this. But not one we're in any hurry to play again.

Remember I said I didn't think the couture bridal shop would pan out? Boy, was I wrong! I found a dress that I just absolutely fell in love with, and because they were having a trunk show the next weekend, was able to talk with a design rep from the company to have the bodice made 3" wider (so it comes up higher) and straps added of the same beadwork as the empire waist. (Click on the thumbnail to see a larger view -- or go to the Matthew Christopher site to see front and back views of the dress in all its glory.)

You can't tell from the picture, but the bodice is entirely made of pintucked silk organza, and at every pintucking is a tiny sequin with a teeny tiny diamond crystal in the center. Which means that no matter what way you turn, the light bounces off the gown and makes you positively radiant. Well, all brides are supposed to be radiant. I'm going to be sparkly, too!

I spoke to the designer via phone, while he was taking a train somewhere or other, and confirmed that he thought my choice of veil was perfect for the dress -- a floor length veil bedecked with glittering droplets of swarovski crystal.

I still haven't decided on the headpiece that I'll wear... something simple, I think, so there's no distraction from the dress and veil.

Once I figured out what I'm wearing, my bridal posse went out to find their gowns, too.


First up is the maid-of-honor gown that pbray will be wearing. A chiffon, empire-waisted gown with straps, in light periwinkle.

She tried, but was unable to find a Transformers robot costume in periwinkle. Clearly, I should have chosen a color for the wedding that was more suited for robots, such as blue and silver, or yellow and black.

Then the bridesmaid gown that Honeybear's sister will be wearing.

A chiffon, empire-waisted strapless gown, in dark periwinkle. Or, they may both end up being the same shade of periwinkle. It's really hard to tell, considering that the Beloise order book had SIX PAGES of fabric samples, each of which was about 1/2" x 1/2". And the 2008 style dress (the bridesmaid gown) will be in the 2009 shade of periwinkle, while the website shows the 2008 shade.

Last night, I had an extremely interesting dream. I was playing a game. (Yeah, no surprise there.) But...it was a game I'd invented. This morning, I tried to remember as much of it as I could.

It's got extremely simple rules, yet highly complex strategy, and lots of repeat playability. Still a little fuzzy on the win conditions -- I didn't get that far in the dream. :-) But I think I have the gist of it.

When I have it worked out, I can bring it to the Wednesday night game testing playgroup. Guess it's a good thing I got the book about how to invent and sell games. LOL!

no, this has nothing to do with what kind of iPod you should buy. :-)

From fashionista_35:

Does anyone have the "official" wording used by publishers for uncorrected page proofs and/or advance review copies?

Someone asked me for it, and of course, I'm unable to find a book that contains the wording I know I've read... something about these are uncorrected page proofs, and reviewers should not quote any text without confirming with the publisher the exact wording that is in the final book...

Mostly I'm just finding a lot of "Advance Readers Edition - Not For Sale" on printed books, or "Uncorrected Proofs" handwritten on galleys.

Picture meme
As tagged by pbray

1.Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.
2.Pick the 4th picture in that folder.
3.Explain the picture.
4.Tag 4 people to do the same.




This is a poster of the Goddess of Wealth. I was searching the web for images to use as a backdrop for a mind movie of abundance and prosperity, and something about this appealed to me, more than the standard piles of money, big house and shiny car.

Ummm... I tag whoever wants to play.

It's that time of year again, when I'm judging contest entries for the Golden Heart. Since this particular contest does not allow judges to comment on the manuscripts, here are the helpful hints I'd have given to writers if I'd been allowed to say something to them.

1 - Tense. Pick one, and stick to it. If you're writing in past tense, every verb (other than what's contained in dialogue) should be in past tense. The one time you can vary from this, is when you are using a form of "to be", that was not only true in the past, but continues to be true. This often comes out in sentences like, "Susan is East Porkchop's finest hair dresser."* Where it gets tricky is when something continued to be true past the nominal "future" of your book (shortly after it ends) but ceased to be true before the current time. But it's problematic, and you should be able to find a way of saying what you want to say without using "is" or "was".

2 - Level of detail. If, for example, we know nothing about what your heroine is wearing, except that she is wearing "lime green Manolo Blahnik pumps with a 3/4" kitten heel"*, you totally knock your reader out of the story, because the level of detail doesn't match anything else. The two most common reasons for this are wish-fulfillment (you lust after those shoes, and so give them to your character so you can vicariously own them) or researchitis, where you think every detail you've researched needs to be on the page for the reader, regardless of the appropriateness of that particular detail. (For an example of consistent level of detail regarding a shoe obsession, look at MaryJanice Davidson's Queen Betsy books. The first thing she does when meeting someone is to check out their shoes, and most descriptions involve shoes to some extent or another.)

3 - Dialog that says nothing. Real life is full of um's, you-knows, and conversational dead-ends that we ignore or filter out. Written conversations should already have those things removed.

4 - Long setup scenes. A scene should have a clear problem/issue that appears relatively soon, and which is resolved by either getting better or getting worse (or, in a chain of scenes, by a character making a decision to resolve the problem, with the attempt to follow through on that decision in the next scene). A scene that does nothing other than presenting the hero or heroine in their normal milieu, with a "twist" ending that adds drama or tension, is far less effective than a scene that begins with that "twist" and shows the hero/heroine trying to deal with it.

5 - Soliloquies. If your character is talking to him-/herself, or the plants, or a pet, or any other entity unable to respond, simply so that you don't have page after page of narrative with no dialogue, you have a problem. Is the discussion really a variant on "As you know, Bob," where the dialogue is used for exposition? Or is it "filler" dialogue, where nothing changes because of it? Odds are pretty good that nothing of import is happening in that scene. Find a way to add emotional drama to the scene, that doesn't involve talking to furniture. (On the other hand, a character talking to him-/herself can be great for escalating tension or dramatic stakes... think of Riggs muttering "red or blue?" while his wire clippers hover over the bomb in the opening of one of the Lethal Weapon movies...a concise way to illustrate that he doesn't know how to disarm a bomb, and has a 50/50 chance of blowing himself up.)

* - all examples quoted are of my own invention, to illustrate my point. They are not even vaguely related to the stories I'm judging, in tone, content, or style, except that they suffer from the same problem.

	Can I get any higher? She can survey the room from the teetering pile of book boxes on top of the bookcase, but can she get DOWN?
	Why do you want to read when you have ME? Phoebe pushes some of those unimportant books off the shelf to make room for herself

Yes, there's a My Little Pony generator that lets you create all sorts of interesting ponies. With horns, and wings, and flames, and shells, and flippers, and... well, you get the idea.

So now, the battle is joined. Below is my Magic Battle Pony. Who thinks they can challenge my awesome cuteness?

I had a grand and glorious plan. I'd be home for 3 weeks at Christmas/New Years, with Honeybear joining me for the last week so that he could be introduced to all the family, and my parents could spend lots of time getting to know him better. For the first two weeks, I'd be getting busy with my mom, shopping for a wedding dress, checking out musicians and photographers, and otherwise making wedding plans while I was in town.

Then, on December 11, my mom fell (in a doctor's office!) and broke her hip, requiring a complete hip replacement of both the ball and the socket. To cap this off, on December 12, Troy suffered a severe ice storm, and the hospital was running on emergency power only, so she didn't get the operation until December 13. Which meant I arrived for the holidays (about 3 hours late, due to various airline woes) a couple of days after she was transferred to rehab. (She's doing FANTASTICALLY, and will be leaving rehab a week early! She gets out on January 10.)

Needless to say, there was no wedding planning happening. There was also a scaling back of meeting Honeybear, since the one set of relatives who were supposed to go to dinner on New Years with us backed out due to weather, and my mom didn't want him to see her "sick", so he only got to see her during her visits home on Christmas and New Years days.

Trying to make up for lost time, I've found a Troy-based wedding planner who seems very nice, as well as experienced and above all competant. We had our first consult today. She's going to get me a breakdown of timeline and expenses, as well as how much it will cost to enlist her help for all the various bits and pieces.

In the meantime, I've also created a wedding website, which the guidebooks all stress is vitally important. And decided, after ordering and reviewing a myriad of save-the-date cards and wedding invitations, that they're all ugly, stupid, and/or overpriced. So I'll make my own save-the-date postcards (thus the need for the wedding website, which people are directed to on the save-the-date) through Vistaprint or some other postcard creation company.

In other news, Miss Phoebe has come to live in her new home. And is already spoiled rotten.

Yeah, I'm totally spamming you today. :-) Lots to catch up on!

Here is the picture of Miss Phoebe, our new cat.


Isn't she a cutie? She's a purebred Siberian cat, a hypo-allergenic breed. (And the more I learn of the breed, the more convinced I am that Vanyel was part Siberian, since she shared so many of their traits, except for the size. Siberians are BIG. Although not as big as Lord Phaedrus.)

She's a retired breeder, from a local cattery that was shutting down. They took her in to get spayed the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and will be holding her for us until we can pick her up in January. We all agreed that getting a cat and forcing it to deal with Christmas in a new location was cruel.

Boy, it's sure been a while, hasn't it? Not only have I been consumed with the moving/unpacking (because what you really need when trying to unpack 131 boxes is to buy assemble-it-yourself furniture that comes in even bigger boxes) but I got a new assignment at work that was due December 5, and required massive amounts of overtime. (Like, working to 10pm for two weeks in a row.)

However, I've been to the movies quite a bit, too, since the Cinnebarre feeds you while you watch the movie, and there's an awesome mexican restaurant that has an agreement with the AMC 24 next door that you can bring their chips and salsa into the theater.

The last movie we saw (and my reward for finishing my project by deadline) was Australia. A lovely epic, but too darn long, with too much story in it. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be about the plight of the aboriginal/white half-breed children, a love story, a "Western" adventure about a cattle drive, or a class-struggle story. A shorter movie, about just one or two of those things, would have been far more enjoyable.

We also saw Bolt, in Disney 3-D. This is a MUST SEE. The movie itself is very good, with engaging characters, a highly emotional storyline (yes, we both cried), and excellent visual and voice work. But the 3-D is amazing -- it felt like you were looking through a window into another reality, rather than just looking at a flat picture of it. So if you get the chance, pay the uplift fee to see it in 3-D.

Finally, this weekend we're going to see The Day the Earth Stood Still, at the IMAX. A ten foot tall Keanu Reeves! Honeybear put together a party, and there will be 14 of us seeing the film, followed by dinner at the Marrakech restaurant to discuss it. We're going with someone who is doing research into applied ET science, and someone who is spearheading an ET contact program for the state, so it should be a very LIVELY discussion!